Tuesday, May 15, 2018

The Wind of Creation

"A Mighty Wind"

- Outside the Desert Retreat House -

Out here in the desert we rarely ever get rain at this
time of the year; however, in this springtime season, the setting of the sun is
almost always accompanied by strong winds that blow throughout the mountain
canyons and onto the desert floor. A few days ago, I sat outside just as the
sun was disappearing behind the western mountains and the winds were gusting so
hard that they literally shook our house. So, I planted my feet firmly on the
ground and I deeply breathed into the powerful beauty of those mighty winds.

As I took those deep breaths I was reminded that the ancient
Navajo word for breath is HolyWind.
A more careful rendering of this definition is: The wind of creation that pervades the cosmos. In a very real sense
those ancient people understood “God” to be the wind that blows and the air we
breathe.

Nowadays, when many people use the word “God” they think of
a “man” who lives up in some distant place, a remote king, an aloof judge, a
heavenly father; but if you examine the images of “God” found in many of the ancient
scriptures and teachings of the world religions, “God” is often referred to as The Wind that Blows, The Air We Breathe.

In the Christian church, this coming Sunday is the “Day of
Pentecost.” According to the Scriptures, after his resurrection, Jesus appeared
among his disciples as the Holy Spirit, the
“Living Christ” abiding with the church forever. In the Pentecost story, the
Holy Spirit is depicted as a powerful
wind blowing through the room where Jesus’ disciples were gathered together
and to this very day, the “Holy Spirit” is often referred to as the “Breath of
God.” Similarly, in the Hebrew tradition, “God” is called “Ruah:” a breath of air, a holy wind, sometimes blowing mightily,
sometimes gently whispering. And of course, over the ages, Buddhists have
concentrated on awareness of one’s breath as a means of being grounded in and
connected to the greater universe.

A few years ago, our
local NPR station featured a Ted Talk that
has continued to stick with me. The program featured a series of lectures by
various scientists who talked about the ecology of the natural world - how all things,
all creatures, all people are dynamically interconnected into one living
breathing organism.

One particular segment of the program especially struck me
as a biologist talked about the air we
breathe:

Breath does indeed connect us in
a very literal way.

Take a breath and as you breathe in,
think about what is in your breath.

There, perhaps, is the carbon
from the person sitting next to you,

maybe there’s a little bit of
algae from some nearby lake, river or beach.

There may even be some carbon in
your breath from ancient dinosaurs,

and there could also be carbon
that you are exhaling

that will be in the breath of
your great, great grandchildren

The air we breathe connects us
all the time

The other day, as I breathed in and breathed out as those
powerful winds blew through the desert, it struck me that I was literally
breathing in “God” and breathing back out into “God.” I was breathing in all that ever was, breathing in everything that is, and breathing back into all that
ever yet will be. Imagine that: “God”
is as intimate to me and you as the very air we breathe.

About Me

I am a teacher, a writer, and a spiritual guide. I am an ordained Episcopal Priest and hold degrees in theology, philosophy, and communication. I am particularly interested in the common spiritual insights which the many various world religions share with one another.

My wife and I live in the beautiful desert in the Coachella Valley of Southern California.